Performance: Instead of Lying On the Ground by Erdem Gündüz

The Turkish artist Erdem Gündüz, known for his action The Standing Man, performs at Röda Sten.

Two performances in the exhibition are organized in collaboration with Live Action, an international performance and arts festival.

Erdem Gündüz is a performance artist, dancer and choreographer from Turkey. In the 30 minutes performance Instead of lying on the ground… the artist uses the the floor as an object. Erdem Gündüz caught the international attention and received recognition after his action The Standing Man, during the protests in Taksim Square in Istanbul on 18 June 2013. For eight hours in a row the artist stood still in protest to the brutality of the police response to demonstrators. Dresses in a white shirt with black pants, he referenced a portrait of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Gündüz adds: My silence and my stillness – the actionless in the action - was not just a work of art. After weeks of street violence, it also undermined the government's propaganda (and the people's understanding of the riots) claiming that "all protesters were violent, uncontrollable and anti-social people”